Rotary engine



(No Model.) 2 sheets-sheen 1.

C. C. WILSON. ROTARY ENGINE.

No. 600,468. nted Mar. 8,1898.

i wifgzsszs 2 Sheets-Sheet 2. c. o. WILSON ROTARY ENGINEl (N0 Model.)

Patented Mar. 8, 1898.

UNTTED STATES PATENT OEEicE.

CHARLES C. XVILSON, OF GREENSBOROUGH, N ORTII CAROLINA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO J. E. HEINZERLING, OF REIDSVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA.

ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 600,468, dated March 8, 1898.

Application filed February 3, 1897. Serial No. 621,853. (No model.)

To @ZZ 10700712, t may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. WILSON,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Greensborough, in the county of Guilford and State of North Carolina, have invented a new and useful Rotary Engine, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to that class of motors in which a wheel is arranged to operate 1o within a suitable casing and propelled by a jet of steam or other fluid impacting against buckets provided around the circumference of the wheel. One of the principal objects is to utilize the motive medium to the best posr 5 sible advantage, this result being attained by confining the motive medium in the buckets of the motor-wlieel a sufficient length of time to enable it to expend all of its energy in driving the wheel and to provide for the ready escape of the motive medium the instant its force or power has been spent, thereby preventing its reaction upon the wheel to detract from the speed thereof.

For a full understanding of the merits and advantages of the invention reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings and the following description.

The improvement is susceptible of various changes in the form, proportion, and the minor details of construction without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof, and to a full disclosure of the invention an adaptation thereof is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- 3 5 Figure 1 is a central horizontal section of a rotary motor or engine constructed in accordance with this invention. vertical section of the lower portion thereof. Fig. 3 is a longitudinal section. Fig. 4 is a 4o detail view of a portion of the motor-wheel.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the following description and indicated in the several views of the accompanying drawings by the same reference characters.

The casing comprises a cylinder or ring 1 and heads 2, bolted or otherwise securely fastened to the ends or edges of the cylinder. The motor-wheel 3 is located within the casing and is mounted upon a shaft 4, mounted in bearings formed in the heads 2 and in bearings 5, provided at the outer ends of tritur- Fig. 2 is a central` cated brackets 6, secured to the sides of rthe heads 2. The side members or branches of the brackets G extend horizontally, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, and the middle branch is disposed vertically, as shown in Fig. 2, thereby bracing the bearings 5 from the three points subjected to the greatest stress. Stuffingboxes 7 provide a steam-tight joint between the shaft 4 and the bearings therefor in the 6o heads 2. Collars 8, secured upon the end portions of the shaft 4 and abutting against the bearings 5, prevent any longitudinal play or movement of the shaft 4 in its bearings and cause it to run steady. A pulley 9, placed upon the shaft 4, serves as a means for taking power from the engine by means of a drivebelt for operating any mechanism required to be driven.

The motor-wheel 3 is provided in its cir- 7o cuinference or periphery with a series of V- shaped buckets 10, disposed obliquely to radii and approximately at a tangent, whereby the best results are attained. The portions of the wheel between the buckets taper toward their outer ends and resemble saw-teeth, as clearly indicated in Fig. 3, the front and rear faces approaching and providing sharp edges to the outer extremities of the said portions,

whereby the steam or motive medium is not 8o 'interrupted in its iiow as the buckets come into position to receive the impact thereof. Rings 11 are secured to the opposite sides of the n1otorwheel and close the ends of the buckets 10, thereby preventing lateral escape of the motive medium and holding the same in the buckets until its force shall have been expended. The sharpened edges of the web portions 12 between the buckets come flush y with the outer edges of the rings 11, whereby 9o the walls of the buckets are practically of the same depth.

The motor-wheel is of less thickness than the space formed between the heads 2, whereby a space 13 is formed between a side of the 95 motor-wheel and a head of the casing, this space serving to receive the motive medium after it has expended its force and providing a quick escape therefor. The end space 13 communicates with the peripheral space 14, :oo formed between the circumferential edge of the motor-wheel and the inner wall of the cylinder, so that no obstacle is interposed to prevent the ready escape of the motive medium when its force has been spent. The steam or motive medium isuadmitted to the casing by means of a pipe 15, and is exhausted therefrom by a pipe 16,communicating with the casing at a point diametrically opposite the supply 15. A portion of the inner wall of the cylinder or ring is caused to approach the circumference of the motor-Wheel, as indicated at 17, and extends from the inlet 15 to the exhaust 16, and projects laterally for about three-fourths the width of the motor-wheel, as indicated in Fig. 1, thereby leaving an end portion of the buckets uncovered to enable the motive medium to escape into the space 13 14 before it can detract from the speed of the motor-Wheel in any manner. The part 17 may be of any desired length, and, as shown, occupies half the circumference of the cylinder, but the extent may be varied under certain conditions.

When the engine or motor is in operation, the steam or other fluid under pressure enters by way of the inlet 15 and, impacting against the walls of the buckets, drives the motor? wheel forward. ,The buckets being closed at their ends and the portion 17 of the cylinder overhanging the greaterpart of the open sides j of the buckets serve to confine the motive medium in the buckets until all of its power and force have been expended, and the peripheral space 14 and end space 13 being in communication with the exhaust 16 and with the end portions of the buckets provide for the ready escape of the motive medium when its force has been spent.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is- In a rotary engine, the combination of a motor-wheel having flat sides, and having buckets around its periphery, rings applied to the sides of the wheel and closing the ends of the buckets, a casing inclosing the motor-wheel and having one of its headsin contact with a side thereof, and having a space between the other head and the opposite side of the motor- Wheel, and having half of its inner peripheral wall touching the motor-wheel and of slightly less width than the length of the buckets or the thickness of the motor-wheel so as to exposevan end portion of the buckets to establish communication between them and the end space of the casing, and having the other half of its inner wall cut away, forming a peripheral space in communication with the said end space, an exhaust about in the plane of the end space of the casing and communicating therewith at the extremity of the peripheral space, and a supply communicating with that portion of the casingtouching the motor-wheel at the end remote froln the exhaust, substantiall-y as shown and described.

In testimony Vthat I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto affixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses. v

CHARLES C. VILSON.

'VVitnessesz WILL P. RAGAN, WM. L. Soorr. 

